cSuttle

Hi,

That's what I do for a living. Check out my web-site at Shark Inlay

chill, it was a joke; i know how serious you take those pinstripes;

id put our flag on a design, but its a freakin leaf!

Plus wouldn't the animal have to be a beaver or something like that

I would not suggest any type of power sander unless you are REALLY good with them. File down the pearl close to the board and them radius block sand the rest. If you want to bring the shine back to the pearl, use 0-0-0-0 steel wool. Works like a charm.

I always leave a little shell over the top of the wood. I want to sand the shell down to the wood, not the wood down to the shell.

I agree with the .06" comment. For a fretboard always start with thicker material.

The piece pictured below had three different thicknesses of material on it. The brass was the thinnest .05, with the pearl and other shells at .06, and the stone being the thickest at .14. But, as you can see it all worked out right in the end.

Sounds like you did ok. I use the router bit to clean out the entire hole. I don't you a chisel or anything like that. You want the depth to be as even as possible.

For sanding, if you get a radiused sanding block, that is the way to go. That way there are go low spots on your fretboard.

Another vote for Brass. Try Rio Grande, it about $8 a sheet and is the right thickness. Use it all the time.

Wolf with real gold leash and collar

Wolf with brass parts

Hmmm ... odd.

First, I'm not sure why you used black epoxy on maple. I always you clear, or a light yellow. But that's not much help right now is it.

My best guess is that the epoxy wasn't truly dry. This could have been caused by not mixing the epoxy properly in the beginning. If you don't get enough catilist in the glue it will be sticky for a long time. The other possibility is you mixed the epoxy so much that there were lots of small air bubbles and the dust is now stuck in the bubbles. Third possiblity is really crappy glue.

For whatever reason, if you can't sand it out (try some 0000 steal wool), then you'll probably have to start over. Probably not what you wanted it hear, but I'm sure you'd rather put in a little more work and have it turn out perfect.

Anytime.

it will never be invisible

Yep, plugs show especially on rose (maple, don't even think about it). Ebony works pretty good though.

It all depends on what you're looking to do. If you just want it to look good up on stage, not a big problem, but it will never look right up close.

Another vote for reopening the inlay slots after the inlay work is done. If your inlay replaces most of the fretboard at some point, be sure to use a fret press to insert the frets and not a hammer. If you hammer the fret down you could crack the inlay.

If you are using really thick or soft material this could become a problem with the fret being unstable. Stuff like .06" mother of pearl is fine because the fret actually extends below the inlay material and does come in contact with the wood. If you are using .15" pearloid, this would be a problem because the tang of the fret would only be in the pearloid. In that case I would suggest trying to leave a little wood on the edges.

I use copper for inlay material a lot, as well as nickel, silver, and brass. I use sheets that I get from Rio Grande that come in .05". It takes a little more arm strength to saw, but beyond that, it works pretty much like any other inlay material. It is also interesting in that you can bend it to fit the sharpe of the fretboard (although in this case it would be flat).

It's a little tough on the saw blades in that they tend to break when making tight turns.

Inlaying in copper really shouldn't be a problem. If you want I could cut you the pieces and you could inlay them.

Thanks guys. It fun when I get to work on a project like this. I have a number of cool projects coming up too. Some creative buyers out there right now.

Hey gang,

This was a fun piece. Just thought I'd share.

If your gaps aren't too big, the PH wood dust should work great.

I have a question about using brass. Will I have to worry about corrosion? And will a lacquer do anything wierd to it?

Once it's lacquer you should never have a discoloration problem. Air turns brass green. No air, no problem. Ever if you use it on a fretboard, exposed to air, a little 0000 steal wool brings it right back to shiny and that would be after 3 or 4 years. I use it all the time. Looks great.

I ship stuff to the UK all the time. I can handle anything you're looking for.

Take a look around the site and you'll get the idea. We do one offs all the time.

Shark Inlay

If you wanted to inlay the logo, you could always use brass.

Well, you can always use nickel or silver. It's not as hard to work with as you may think and nickel is cheap.

I agree with the eariler comment, white on maple is not a good idea. Black MOP look awesome though.

Im sorry but this is so cool, but I cant tell what the blue part is....and it isnt even late yet.

It's turquoise.

Wow!! That is some beautiful S#!t!!!! You've obviously had some practice!. Nice work.

Yeah, just a little. Check out my web-site at Shark Inlay

Having put any picture of work here in a while and I thought this piece was very cool.

If you don't know what this is, then it's probably past your bedtime

Whatever epoxy you like, really.

Personally, I use superglue.

+1 I've tried a lot of the different, high end epoxies and I've found the cheap superglue stuff to be the best. It color better and is easier to handle. At less then $3 a tube it's a bargain.

that was the only one i had! i had to use this one with a ball end, which was NOT fun. iv found a site with them on in the uk which is good, and theres some cheap ones too. not carbide but at a seventh of the price, i can live with that

Nice job on your first inlay. Could you give us some info on where to get the inlay bits you are talking about. And if anyone else knows where we might get them in th U.S. I know Stewmac is making a killing on those. I have bought 2 from them so far, and I need a cheaper source.

Thanks.

McMaster Carr - About the same price, but dual sided and they wear much better. The Stumack bit are pretty low quality in my opinion. Also, RobbJack bit are real good too.

csuttle - if you click on the pics they open on a new page much bigger

Yeah, that helped a lot. You might want to concider using black mop for the back wing (the top piece of the wings), so it looks like it's in shadow. You know the wing behind the wing. Just a thought.

Not bad, not bad at all. I like the design. I wish you had posted larger photos. Best of luck with inlaying into the fretboard.